Oil Fields

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT OIL FIELDS - PAGE 3

Chicago's FMC Corp.'s Kongsberg Offshore A.S. subsidiary has won a five-year, $450 million contract to deliver subsea oil production systems to Statoil, Norway's state-owned oil company. The systems will be used primarily for the development of the Asgard, Gullfaks South, Rimfaks and Yme Beta East oil fields in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The development of these fields is expected in late 1995 to '97. FMC produces chemicals and machinery for industry, government and agriculture.

Oct 4 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories were reported by media on Thursday: * Top global miner BHP Billiton is among the companies talking to Petrobras about buying a stake in the Brazilian state-led oil company's Gulf of Mexico oil fields, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. * Morgan Stanley is in talks to sell a majority stake in its commodities business to the Qatar Investment Authority, the Financial Times said, quoting people familiar with the deal.

Mobil selling 13 oil fields: Mobil Corp. said it agreed to sell its interest in 13 oil and gas producing fields in the Gulf of Mexico to Flores & Rucks Inc. for $139.3 million. The fields, which produce about 10,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent, are primarily in shallow waters in the central Gulf of Mexico offshore Louisiana. Mobil's working interest in the fields range from 20 percent to 100 percent. The sale includes fields that have previously been identified as having limited potential and are not competitive with other opportunities, the company said.

The main threat to peace, stability and oil supplies in the Middle East has never been the Palestine problem and the Israelis. It has always been the basic instability of large oil wealth controlled by a few sheiks, kings and families who have no real military power. This lesson should have been learned over 20 years ago, when the pro-American King Idris of Libya was overthrown by an unknown colonel named Moammar Gadhafi and more recently when Iraq and Iran engaged in a long, fierce war, using forces that could easily conquer all the oil fields of the Middle East.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Malaysia's Dialog Group Bhd said it has signed an agreement with Halliburton International Inc for a contract worth $1.2 billion aimed at boosting oil output from a mature field in East Malaysia. The agreement aims to boost recoverable reserves in the Bayan Field, located offshore Sarawak, as Malaysia tries to boost flagging production from its existing oil fields. "This is in line with Dialog's strategy to continue developing its upstream capabilities, which include the rejuvenation and re-development of mature oil fields," Dialog said in an announcement to the Malaysian stock exchange.

In China, Vietnam and North Korea, the Clinton administration has made commercial diplomacy and engagement the center of its strategy to foster economic and political reform in the post-Cold War era. But President Clinton's decision to stop Houston-based Conoco Inc. from entering a $1 billion deal to develop two Iranian oil fields shows that the White House won't allow American companies to wheel and deal with every authoritarian regime or...

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda's president said on Tuesday that deadly attacks on its security forces near its new oil fields in the west were sparked by a power tussle between local tribes, apparently ruling out Islamists who were once active there. Gunmen on Saturday attacked police stations and a military barracks across three districts in Uganda's Rwenzori region along the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killing 17 people including policemen and soldiers. The security forces said they responded by killing more than 60 attackers and had deployed extra troops to restore security in the area near oil fields where Uganda aims to start commercial crude production by about 2017.

It's back to the oil fields for Michael Sarver. The 27-year-old oil rigger from Jasper, Texas, was sent home on Thursday's "American Idol." His rendition of "Ain't to Proud to Beg" didn't excite voters who called in more than 36 million votes after Wednesday's performance show. He needed to beg after performing again for the judges Thursday. They didn't save him from elimination. Sarver probably won't go back to his old job -- the fifth most dangerous in the world, he said -- right away.

President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that soldiers will accompany government officials when they take over oil projects in the Orinoco River basin next month. Chavez has decreed that Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, will take a minimum 60 percent stake in four heavy-oil projects in the Orinoco River region and invited the six private companies operating there to stay on as minority partners. "On May 1 we are going to take control of the oil fields," Chavez said. "I'm sure no transnational company is going to draw a shotgun, but we will go with the armed forces and the people."